for preview04; ERIC BANA (l) and ORLANDO BLOOM in Warner Bros. Pictures� "Troy," also starring Brad Pitt.
PHOTOGRAPHS TO BE USED SOLELY FOR ADVERTISING, PROMOTION, PUBLICITY OR REVIEWS OF THIS SPECIFIC MOTION PICTURE AND TO REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF THE STUDIO. NOT FOR SALE OR REDISTRIBUTION less

for preview04; ERIC BANA (l) and ORLANDO BLOOM in Warner Bros. Pictures� "Troy," also starring Brad Pitt.
PHOTOGRAPHS TO BE USED SOLELY FOR ADVERTISING, PROMOTION, PUBLICITY OR REVIEWS OF THIS SPECIFIC ... more

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BRAD PITT stars as 'Achilles' in Warner Bros. Pictures' epic action adventure "Troy," also starring Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom. PHOTOGRAPHS TO BE USED SOLELY FOR ADVERTISING, PROMOTION, PUBLICITY OR REVIEWS OF THIS SPECIFIC MOTION PICTURE AND TO REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF THE STUDIO. NOT FOR SALE OR REDISTRIBUTION. less

BRAD PITT stars as 'Achilles' in Warner Bros. Pictures' epic action adventure "Troy," also starring Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom. PHOTOGRAPHS TO BE USED SOLELY FOR ADVERTISING, PROMOTION, PUBLICITY OR REVIEWS OF ... more

This is not the movie for people who have read and reread the "The Iliad" and have dreamed of the Trojan War, the clash of civilizations, the mighty armies and outsize personalities. It is more for people who want to see Brad Pitt in a tunic, some good combat scenes and a little romance. It is also not for people who have contemplated Helen of Troy and wondered at a face that could launch a thousand ships. The Helen of Troy we get here, as played by Diane Kruger, looks more like Helen of Troy, N.Y. - a pretty girl who could easily launch a paddleboat, maybe, or a couple of canoes, but that's about all. Still, a movie that's 160 minutes long and never boring, that provides a talented cast with juicy roles and a charismatic star (Pitt) with a great showcase is not something to be buried under ridicule. "Troy" is all Hollywood and no Homer, but within its limits, it's a vigorous, entertaining movie.

Like World War I, the epic disaster depicted here results from a simple cause, in this case the pedestrian lust of two immature youngsters: Helen, Queen of Sparta, starts having unsafe sex with a Trojan, namely Paris (Orlando Bloom), and he whisks her off to Troy, much to the consternation of her husband, King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson). Enraged and seeking revenge, Menelaus goes to his brother, the power-hungry Agamemnon (Brian Cox), who sees Helen's abduction as just the excuse he's been looking for to invade Troy.

The movie presents Greece and Troy as cultures in opposition. The Greeks are a rowdy bunch. They're aggressive, wear dark clothes and do elaborate "Star Trek"-like things to their hair, while the Trojans have shorter hair, lighter clothes and a more considered demeanor. The Trojans know how to fight, but they're content to live in peace, protected within their impenetrable walls and under the rule of a just and forlorn old king (Peter O'Toole). Despite their worthiness, an undertone of sadness pervades Troy, as if the people know that 3,000 years later the Greeks will still be a nation, while they will be a brand of contraceptives. Even Hector (Eric Bana), their greatest warrior, has the pensive, subdued air of a leader smart enough to grasp that history is against him.

It's a curious story, a war saga that manages to be involving without a clear-cut rooting interest, one in which each side has its share of shining lights and idiots. The greatest of the Greeks, Achilles (Pitt), embodies the evenhandedness of a tale bordering on ambivalence. Achilles despises Agamemnon, "that pig of a king," and doesn't believe in the cause. When he fights, he fights only for glory, and as a warrior he has moves that no one can match. In an early scene, he leaps into the air and kills a giant with one stroke. But just as often, Achilles prefers to stay in his tent and brood.

The precedent for Pitt's Achilles is not to be found in Homer but in the Hollywood anti-heroes of the 1970s. Too cool to believe politicians, too cynical to fight for an ideal, he has no hope, just a fatalistic equanimity, and believes only in courage as a value in itself. When it comes to conveying smirky confidence, cocksure heroics and the in-the-moment intensity of a lover who knows he who could be dead tomorrow, Pitt is magnetic. His performance falters only when he has to convey Achilles' rage, the mysterious and thinly veiled source of this warrior's effectiveness. Pitt just can't locate the anger, not convincingly. Even so, what might, in another movie, be a serious failing doesn't matter here. Nothing gets in the way of what is essentially a fun performance in a lively adventure.

As Hector, Bana suggests the decency of a rational man in an irrational age, a version of the quality that O'Toole brings to Priam, though unclouded by age or sentiment. Hector intuits that the future belongs to self-satisfied vulgarians like Agamemnon, as played by Cox. It's going to be a long 3,000 years.

Director Wolfgang Petersen doesn't bring his usual gracefulness to the filming of "Troy," but the film's imposing visuals make up for a certain lack of finesse: the massive city walls, the 1,000 ships sailing through the mist, the armies of soldiers as far as the eye can see. Finally, the Trojan horse, tall and angular, is given a scary, ominous look befitting both an instrument of doom and a vehicle meant to hold scores of men for many hours, centuries before the invention of indoor plumbing.

-- Advisory: The film contains lots of bloody battle scenes and a couple of scenes of sensuality.